When 30 People Were Stranded On A Ferris Wheel In Jersey Shore, June 1960

On Saturday June 25th 1960, the 3 inch main shaft  of the Ferris Wheel at the Jersey Shore Fireman's Carnival snapped, causing the wheel to stop and tilt at an angle.  Some passengers where stranded for nearly two hours.

An aerial ladder from the Lock Haven fire company was brought over to assist with the rescue.

The Original Dam That Shamokin Dam Was Named For

 
Sunbury was once called "Shamokin".  In 1830, a dam was built on the river, and the area across the river is, still today, known as "Shamokin Dam".  

The Dam is frequently referred to as "The Eel Dam".  

According to an 1831 Letter To The Editor reprinted in the United States Gazette, Philadelphia:

"The first dam was wretchedly executed.  It was never properly finished, nor filled in with stone; and a great portion of it was therefor swept off by the first ice freshnet of the spring.  The present dam was built last summer [the summer of 1830] and better done but pard of it was built on the underwork of the first, and not sufficiently prepare and secured.  There, and there only, a breach was made of about 200 feet by ice and flood last [1831] spring.  But the rest of the dam stands firm, erect, and level, without material injury, extending upon the solid foundation of a range of rock in a straight line across the main river.  Its base is 26 feet broad, and further enlarged by spars: its length, besides the chute, 2730 feet - including that 2810 feet.  The water is raised by it six feet above love water surface in the river, to the level of canal navigation - five feet at Sunbury and four at Northumberland Point, slacking the current for five or six miles above the dam in both branches of the river, and forming a navigable basin  at Sunbury of uncommon beauty, half a mile wife and nearly three miles in length, from the dam to Northumberland.

The chute for rafts and arks, as well as the dam, is now under improvement and will probably be perfectly safe in a short time.  Notwithstanding the nowise raised about the danger there last spring, only one ark was wrecked with agricultural produce and it is believed that accident arose from mere imprudence."

Several breaches made in the Dam in the flood of January 1832

On Thursday April 17th 1831, Sheriff Hass and Captain Hummel were standing on the bank of the river, near the Shamokin Dam.  The men counted 128 rafts and 27 arks descend between one pm and two pm that day.

A coal wharf along the river

[photo and explanation from David Moyer]

Approximately late 1850s, taken near church street.

The “eel” dam was built to impound water for the steamships to navigate the river and to regulate water depths for the canals on both banks of the river. I Attached a picture of one of several coal wharves along the Sunbury Canal and/or river. The Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad serviced at least one of these wharves. The rail cars are in the background, to be pushed onto the tipples. Canal boats are on the river side to be loaded and coal chutes to fill wagons are on the bank. Apparently this picture predates the P&R bridge going to the West Bank of the river.

Sign at bottom of photo appears to say Packer Street Basin

1855 canal map

Explanation again from David Moyer:

The left end came to a stone abutment and then an open spillway for log rafts and other river born transportation. The break in the river bank above the guard lock of the Pa. Canal system is a stream outlet , the stream comes down south along Rt 15 and goes under the Routes 11&15 highway in front of W&L Nissan, cuts southernmost and comes into the river.

Since the stream is not shown feeding into the canal I would assume there was a low narrow aqua-duct there crossing over it. Also above the guard lock it shows a bridge whether for man, beast or wagons crossing over a waterway that would help to keep a constant level in the canal south of the locks. The drawing does not have it marked as such but I would assume the right or east side of the canal had the towpath.

The public road to Northumberland is on the left. Shown coming off of that is the Shamokin Dam 7th avenue street which still crosses over to the river and the Fabridam Park. The park is on fill that once was the canal.

7th avenue goes up and over the railroad spur that fed coal cars into the PP&L power plant nowadays, as soon as you cross the old rail bed look to your right, that low swampy area is the old canal. If you go up that road and under the bridge you can get out and walk toward the left and see the canal bed. As you are going west towards Shamokin Adam from Sunbury on the new bridge where the overhead direction signs standards are you can look to your right and still see the canal bed pictured below you.

On March 13th 1874, the Sunbury Gazette reported that the feat recently performed by John Garinger in going over the dam in a a common foot boat was one that had never been performed before.   And it was likely not to ever happen again, at least not by Mr Garinger, if he could help it. Garinger was rowing to Sunbury to attend the market when ice carried him across the dam.  He clung to the boat until he reached shallow water, then stood until he was rescued by those who saw his situation from the shores.

On the river north of Shamokin Dam, showing ferry transporting merchant wagons, including Yerger of Mt. Pleasant Mills, to Sunbury on the east side. Also seen is Clement's steam boat leaving the dock, and the Phila and Reading RR bridge, further north.

The dam  was destroyed in the flood of 1904.

The Montour American reported that there was a chance of the Canal Company making repairs, but that did not happen.

The observation deck however, shown on the right in the above photo,  still remains today.

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Signatures Carved In The Rocks Of the Observation Deck

The Observation deck for the dam still stands today, on the Sunbury side of the river.  A number of names are carved into it.  See more about those here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2025/10/names-carved-in-rocks-in-sunbury.html

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The United States Gazette, September 1831

February 1832

March 1832

April 1873

New Fish Law prohibited fishermen from catching Shad from the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers between June and August.  Four fishways, or ladders, were to be constructed for the passage of fish over the dams at Clarks Ferry, Shamokin Dam, Columbia Dam, and one over the dam at the Juniata River.

Clarkstown, Pennsylvania

 
Clarkstown, Lycoming County Pennsylvania

Recently I was asked if would be willing to add  history from Clarkstown to the blog here.  So today I pulled up my folder to sort out all of my Clarkstown Photos...  and I have none.  Not a one.  A very quick search turned up just a few items.  I'm sure over time I can add a lot more, but right now, I don't even know what year the town was incorporated, and the above post card is the only town post card I have found so far.  If you have any to contribute, please send to htruck@gmail.com or message me through the Valley Girl Views facebook page.  Thanks!

Mill Dam, Clarkstown, 1907

My best guess, currently, is that this was for the Wallis Mill, in Moreland Twp (right outside of Clarkstown)

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-wallis-grist-mill-in-old-smithtown.html

"Rock Road Near Clarkstown PA"

Painted by Helen Edkin Sheaffer [1909-2005]  of Montoursville  

Clarkstown, Pa - 1873

Clyde Peeling with an American alligator in his "backyard zoo" in Clarkstown, PA circa 1956.

October 5, 1938

First wedding in the 68 year old church in Clarkstown

1890 - P.K. Fisher, well known distiller from Clarkstown

Warren D. Foust  "Flying - A Gasoline", 1947

September 9th, 1937

New Type Of Highway At Clarkstown

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QUEEN ETTA, The Seneca - The Life & Death Of A Social Outcast

 QUEEN ETTA, THE SENECA

LIFE AND VIOLENT DEATH OF A SOCIAL OUTCAST

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A Strange Family Of Savages Who Dwell in Caves and Cabins in the Woods Of Western Pennsylvania

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 A party of sportsmen, who have been bear hunting in, the wilds of Potter Co., near the little town of Abbott, report the finding of the body of Goble, a notorious character, who has been missing from her home in the mountains near -Wharton, for several months. 

Her death was a most horrible tragic one, and a fitting end to a strange life (nil of romance and misery. Etta Goble was ono of a large family of half-savage people known as "The Krabels." This strange family is said to number from 200 to 350 men, women and children, and a more degraded lot of people it would be hard to find in the United States. They dwell in small caves and cabins in the wooded hills of Potter Co., and on the borders of Cameron and Clinton counties.

 Despite their Dutch name the Krables are undoubtedly of Indian descent, the Seneca breed, they claim and they all bear the peculiar facial marks of their ancestors, while their habits and mode of living are even more indecent and less cleanly than those of their uncivilized forefathers. They intermarry exclusively, and no divorce is necessary to separate man and. wife, if either par ty desire such separation. Marriage services, of a peculiar sort, followed by an incantation, are performed by the "sage" of the tribe, and the occasion is one of the most open defiance of all laws of morality. The results of the defiance of physiological laws, by intermarriage, are evident in the forms of their children. Many of them are idiots, some are strangely deformed.

 A BEARDED FEMALE FORTUNE-TELLER

 Such is the race or family to which Etta Goble belonged, or rather with which she lived, tor she frequently declared that she could boast of purer Indian blood than the rest of the tribe. She was always regarded with a great deal of awe by her associates, and she was treated with as much deference as gypsies usually pay to their "Queen," and with as much respect as Indians show to their "medicine men." She was reputed to have been the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and was, in consequence, believed to be endowed with the magic power of curing all kinds of bone fractures and diseases. She was a fortune- teller of remarkable skill and her hand was crossed with silver by many a backwoods maiden who desired to know her future, and whether her rustic swain was true to his vows.

 In appearance "the Queen," as she was usually called, was somewhat, startling. She was nearly six feet nine inches in height, her skin was a saffron-yellow, her hair long, coarse and black as a raven's wing, and her chin was covered with a beard at least three inches in length. She adopted the regular Indian costume and lived alone in her small cabin in the woods, midway between Abbott and New Bergen. During her summer excursions to Coudersport and Emporium she was constantly besieged by people who wanted the future revealed to them by this wonderful fortune teller. She made some wonderful predictions. She foretold the assassination of President Garfield ; she predicted the strike of the famous oil well "646," and she warned the people of Ridgway, Elk county, not very far from Emporium, of the fire which recently laid that town in ashes.

 A DANGEROUS PET.

 She made money and knew how to save it. She rarely spent a cent except for liquor, and one of her peculiarities was that she would never allow any human being to sleep in her cabin, not even her own brother, and those of the tribe who went to visit her always went prepared to sleep out of doors. She had a pet rattlesnake whose fangs had never been drawn, and she frequently boasted that she did not want a better protector. There was an annual gathering of these wandering people, usually held at Etta's cabin, and these convocations were the wildest orgies imaginable, and more than one member ot the great family has been missing after the long debauches in the lonely wilds of Potter county.

"Queen Etta" was last seen alive the day before Thanksgiving, when she was as frisky and as full of whisky as usual. Just before Christmas one of the Goble tribe, while in the post-office at Abbott, casually remarked, "Queen Et' haint t' hum no more, and I sh'udu't wonder ef she hed kicked the bucket afore this, on 'count o' th' hard winter." One of the bystanders made a trip to her cabin next day and found it deserted. On the earthen floor ,in one corner of the room, lay a half bushel of chestnuts and walnuts, while to the beams supporting the thatched roof hung a ham, the half decayed body of a chicken and a string of red peppers No signs of "Queeu Etta" were anywhere to be seen, and after a two days' search the neighbors concluded she had gone to join the rest of the tribe near Millport.

A few days ago the party of hunters from Conders- port, first referred to, were chasing a black bear through the swamp near the cabin where "the Queen" formerly lived, when one of the hunters stumbled and fell over what he supposed to be a stone, but which, upon closer examination proved to be a human skull, still covered with patches of bloody skin and hair. Upon communicating his discovery to the people living in that vicinity they came to the conclusion that the skull was that of "Queeu Etta," the peculiar shape of her head corresponding to the shape of the skull. Suddenly one of their dogs stopped and commenced barking furiously under a chestnut tree on the hillside.' Running to the spot the men discovered that the dogs had scented a partly decomposed body. It required but a brief examination to convince them that the remains of the old "Queen" lay before them. She had climbed the chestnut tree to shake down some nuts when the limb, in the top of the tree broke, and she fell a distance of at least thirty feet. A large jagged stump of a tree that had been shattered by lightning, caught her body as she fell, and one large splinter of it was thrust entirely through her body, impaling her. Her death must have been instantaneous. A bear, or some other carnivorous animal, had gnawed away her feet and hands, which had hung nearly to the ground, and it was undoubtedly a bear that had torn her head from her body and carried it into the swamp.

 A BONFIRE OF A COFFIN. 

The news of the recovery of "Queen Etta's" body spread like wild fire through the sparsely settled districts, and the Goble family gathered in full force to attend the "Queen's" funeral and to dispose of her body, which had been encased in a cheap pine coffin at the expense of the county, and placed in her cabin. It was on a Wednesday afternoon that at least two hundred of these half-savage men and women assembled at "Queen Etta's" hut and held a wake over the mangled remains. They indulged in drunkenness and wild orgies for two days. The clergyman who went from Wharton to read the burial service was driven from the spot by the drunken people, and they made an illumination in his honor by splitting the coffin to pieces and burning it. The next day they departed, after having set fire to the cabin. What became of the old woman's body no one can tell, for it is said, to be a custom of the Tribe  never to leave any trace of the burial-place of any of its members. 

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The Williamsport Sunday Breakfast Table, Feb 18 1883

Similar reports were carried in various newspapers, all the way to Vermont.

When A 28 Year Old Dancer From Williamsport, & A Groundhog, Died In A Flight For Science, 1932

 

A 28 year old dancer and night club host from Williamsport Pa, a ground hog, a retired gynecologist, and a barn stormer pilot, attempted a Trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Rome.  The purpose of the flight was to monitor carbon monoxide levels in the cabin during flights, and in addition, Edna Newcomer who also had training as a nurse, held a pilots license, and had parachuting experience, would parachute into Florence in a tribute to Florence Nightingale.  Two prior attempts to fly from New York To Rome had failed, so if they succeeded, they would also be the first to make this flight successfully.  Unfortunately, they never arrived in Europe, and the plane was presumed lost at sea.

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The plane, the former Miss Veedol, was purchased by a group including Dr. Leon Martocci-Pisculli.  Pisculli recruited pilot William Ulbrich, with Gladys Bramhall Wilmer as co-pilot, for a record New York to Rome flight, including the proposed parachute jump in honor of Florence Nightingale over Italy. Wilner was a nurse, licensed pilot, and experienced parachute jumper, was an ideal candidate for the flight.  At some point however, Wilner decided not to take part in the flight.  She was replaced by Williamsport native, Edna Newcomer. 

Dr. Pisculli's intention for the flight was to study the effects of fatigue in long-distance aviation and to test his hypothesis that the loss of many previous long-distance flights had been due to the buildup of carbon monoxide in the crew compartment. Pisculli, who served as commander of the flight, held at least 3 patents for medical devices, he was also the founder and director of the American Nurses Aviation Service, which sought to promote the provision of medical care in aviation and through aviation to others.  As the flight was being sponsored by that Ameerican Nurses Aviation Service, the plane was renamed The American Nurse.

On the trip, the nursing assistant, who would also serve as co-pilot and parachute jumper, would take in charge of taking scientific data. When Ulbrich could leave the controls, Dr Pisculli planned to make examinations to discover the strain of flying on aviators.  "Heart, lungs, respiration, urine tests, and so on - a complete scientific examination."

A groundhog was also along on the flight, a mascot named "Tailwind".  Pisculli had found the woodchuck with a broken leg on a road in New York, and had nursed him back to health.  Tailwinds presence was presumably to be an early indicator of noxious carbon monoxide, much like a canary in a coal mine, however it was likely also, at least partially, a publicity stunt.

There were only two trained nurses in the US, at that time, that also held pilots licenses and also had a working knowledge of parachutes.  Once Wilmer declined, that left 28 year old Edna Newcomer of Williamsport PA.  

 

In September of 1932, 7 women had attempted to make Trans-Atlantic flights, and only two had succeeded.  Five had died trying.  Newcomer, the 8th woman to make the attempt,  was the first to have been invited along on a flight, the other women all having got their own backers and planes, and then found pilots to go with them.

Edna, 28 years old at the time of the flight, was the daughter of John Harrison Newcomer and Rebecca May [Shatto] Newcomer.   Her mother Rebecca, in 1932, resided at 812 Packer street, Williamsport Pa. Edna was born and raised in Williamsport, and attended the schools there.  

On her 20th birthday, she attended a musical comedy that was playing at the old opera house on West Third Street.  Soon after she left the city to become the bride of Jimmy Hodges, an actor. Upon her separation from Hodges, she retained her maiden name.

A few years later, Edna was one of a few actresses who submitted to a surgical operation in the hope of having her slightly bowed legs straightened.  After the surgery, she remained in a Chicago hospital for six weeks.  She then returned to Williamsport, where she had to remain in bed for the entire summer.  When the bandages were finally removed, she had forgotten how to walk.  Her brother John, who lived at home with their mother, took her out on the streets at midnight, where she could practice walking without being observed.

A  Broadway dancer and night club hostess, Edna soon became interested in flying, and by the fall of 1932 had 350 air hours to her credit.  She studied for 18 months at Roosevelt Field, and had recently became a parachute jumper.

When Edna spoke to her mother about the invitation to join the flight, her mother said "Go to it Edna!  You'll make it." Rebecca had occasionally traveled with Edna when she was in the musical comedy shows, she went to Chicago to be with her daughter after her surgery, and she planned to live with Edna when Edna returned from Rome.

The Williamsport Grit reported, in August of 1932, that Edna was "heralded as the first flying nurse of the American Nurses Aviation Service Inc, breveted as a flight nurse assistant and graduate parachute jumper." 

Edna was not a graduate nurse, but she had studied nursing in a private sanitorium in Williamsport.  

When asked how she felt about the "flight for sciences sake", Edna answered:

"It'll be the greatest thrill of my life - this flying the ocean.  I'm doing it for adventure.  I had my first parachute jump the other day, and it was great.  No, I won't be afraid of the long grind across the ocean or the leap at Florence".

Note - This contradicts earlier articles saying Edna had prior parachuting experience.

"I've had my ups and downs in life, and if anything goes wrong, its just too bad. "

When the crew first went to the airport in New York, Rebecca Newcomer, Edna's mom, accompanied her.  Bad weather however, delayed the flight, and Rebecca soon returned home.  She told her daughter, " not to bother about letting me know about the flight until you get to Rome."

Edna's uniform for the flight included a white cap, a trim blue naval looking coat with white pants, and a collar decorated with the emblem of the new American Nurse Aviation Service - a cross, wings, and intertwined caduceus.

Before the flight took off, Edna sent a telegram to a friend.

"Your lady bird spreads her wings to span the Atlantic, so wish me well before I go to hell. Or is it just another transatlantic flight? Answer cablegram to Rome if..."

Before boarding the flight, Edna Newcomer ran back to an automobile and got a small handbag she had packed with clothes "to use on the other side"

The American Nurse took off from Floyd Bennett field a little after 6am on Tuesday September 13th 1932.   Ulrich planned to fly over Cape Cod, and from there fly 1,000 miles due east along the 42nd parallel, and then veer slightly south to strike the Spanish coast in the vicinity. 

 Pisculli hoped to set down at Rome 24 to 26 hours after take off.  He announced that, before landing,  Miss Newcomer, a former dancer with "million dollar legs", would step out of the plane and descend by parachute at Florence, Italy, as a tribute to Florence Nightingale. 

By Friday, September 16th 1932, the plane was officially missing. Air officials felt certain it had not arrived over Europe at all, "for if she had, the pilot would have flown low to get his bearings and doubtless would have been recognized."

There were numerous reports of possible sightings, but the last verified sighting was by the S.S. France, 400 miles from its European landfall.

 

This was the 3rd failed attempt to reach Rome from New York, by airplane.  In 1927, Old Glory was lost at sea.  In 1929, pilots Roger Williams and Lewis A Yancey started for Rome, but only got as far as Spain.

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For the Genealogists:

Edna's mother was named as Rebecca in many news reports.  She was 83 years old in September of 1923.

Rebecca Newcommer waited for news at the home of her sister, Mrs Frank Blaker, Russell avenue, Kenmar.

A photo shows a younger Edna Newcomer, listed as the grandaughter of Rebecca, waiting by the radio for news.  There's no mention of Edna having a daughter sharing her name, so this is likely a niece of the Edna who made the flight.

[Birth record for Edna Newcomer, 1910, lists William & Mimi as parents]

Asher M. Newcomer, of Meriden Connecticut, was mentioned as a cousin of Edna.

The Bellanca J-300 Miss Veedol, with pilot Clyde Pangborn and passenger Hugh Herndon, Jr., made the first successful nonstop flight across the Pacific. The aircraft was sold to a group including New York gynecologist Leon Pisculli and renamed THE AMERICAN NURSE with the intention of flying the Atlantic to Rome with pilot William Ulrich, copilot, nurse and parachutist Gladys Bramhall Wilner and a pet woodchuck named "Tailwind"  (Wilner declined to make the flight, and Edna Newcomer took her place)

The plane was formerly known as Miss Veedol, which was originally  intended to make the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight, in an attempt to win a $25,000 prize offered by a Japanese newspaper.

That flight was a bit of a disaster, with the plane being loaded well beyond maximum capacity, it could barely take off.  Then the engine became starved for fuel, and the pilot had to dive to 1400 feet to get the ending restarted.  When Panghorn took a break to get some sleep, his co-pilot wandered off course, missing both Vancouver and Seattle.

Then the weather would not cooperate, and they could not find a safe place to land.  They finally made a belly landing, having disposed of the landing gear over the pacific. The plane was damaged, but repairable, and the propeller is still on display at the  Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center in Wenatchee, Washington.

The flight did qualify for the prize money offered by the Japanese newspaper, but as Herndon and his mother were the primary financial backers of the flight, they kept most of the prize money, in addition to the money from the sale of they sold the plane.

Nov 1, 1910

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Heiser, W. H. (2006). U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Aviation, Volume I, 1916-1942 Chronology. (n.p.): Dihedral Press.